Kim Seung-won Hearing to Be Held with Zero Witnesses... Seo Young-kyo Claims "Candidate Himself Is the Witness"

[Anchor]

The upcoming confirmation hearing next week for Minister of Justice nominee Kim Seung-won will ultimately be held without a single witness. With the Democratic Party refusing to adopt witnesses, the nominee will be vetted without the businesswoman involved in the "Ministry of Food and Drug Safety lobbying allegations" or the founder of a startup pharmaceutical company. Democratic Party lawmaker Seo Young-kyo even made the absurd claim that the ministerial nominee himself serves as the witness.

Reported by Ha Jeongyeon.

[Reporter]

Rival party lawmakers clashed all day yesterday (September 9) over the issue of selecting witnesses for the National Assembly confirmation hearing of Minister of Justice nominee Kim Seung-won.

As no agreement was reached by yesterday's midnight deadline for adoption, it ultimately resulted in a "hearing without witnesses."

The Democratic Party completely rejected the 44 witnesses demanded by the People Power Party regarding issues such as the "Ministry of Food and Drug Safety lobbying allegations," arguing that the cases had already ended with dispositions of suspension of indictment.

[Yoon Sang-hyun / People Power Party Lawmaker (Yesterday): Why can't they testify in the National Assembly? You are going to proceed without these people? Then the hearing is simply an explanation, not verification.]

[Kim Dong-ah / Democratic Party Lawmaker (Yesterday): I believe it is wrong to drag that already concluded and finalized case back out into this sacred National Assembly to talk about it.]

Amid criticisms of a "toothless hearing," Judiciary Committee Chairperson Seo Young-kyo of the Democratic Party openly asserted, "Going without witnesses is a normal confirmation hearing."

[Seo Young-kyo / Chairperson of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, National Assembly (Democratic Party Lawmaker, Yesterday): The ministerial candidate becomes the witness. Countless people can just ask questions there. What, is the ship heading up a mountain?]

However, back in 2022 during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, Seo, who was then Chairperson of the Public Administration and Security Committee, stated ahead of the confirmation hearing for Minister of Public Administration and Security nominee Lee Sang-min that "witness questioning is an essential procedure."

[Seo Young-kyo / Chairperson of the Public Administration and Security Committee, National Assembly (Democratic Party Lawmaker, April 2022): Witness questioning at a National Assembly confirmation hearing is an essential procedure to objectively verify a public office nominee's capability and morality to perform public duties.]

Looking at precedents for Justice Minister confirmation hearings, 11 and 4 witnesses were adopted during the past hearings for Minister of Justice nominees Cho Kuk and Han Dong-hoon, respectively.

Meanwhile, out of 25 confirmation hearings for prime minister and ministerial nominees held under the Lee Jae-myung administration, 18 hearings have had zero witnesses.

Criticism is growing that pushing through with witness-free, "toothless hearings" under the pretext of rival party confrontations undermines the purpose of the confirmation system, which is "personnel verification before the public."

(Video by: Kim Yong-woo | Video Editing by: Jang Hyun-ki | Design: Lee Ga-jin)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.